Two thirds of schools still flouting Baker clause a year after introduction

Two-thirds of schools are still flouting the controversial Baker clause a year after it was introduced – leading to calls for Ofsted to police the rule.

A report published today and shared exclusively with FE Week and The Times by the Institute for Public Policy Research has warned the Baker clause has “failed to achieve its aims”.

It found that 70 per cent of the 68 FE providers approached as part of the research continue to find it difficult to access schools, while most of them who were granted access raised concerns they were only allowed to speak to less academic pupils.

Only 31 per cent of the post-16 providers believe the situation around accessing school students and promoting technical education had improved over the last year.

Meanwhile, 63 per cent of 101 secondary schools surveyed had failed to issue a policy statement, as required by the Baker clause since January last year, to show how they ensure education and training providers can access pupils to talk about technical education and apprenticeships.

Lord Baker has accused schools of “deliberately flouting and flagrantly disregarding the law of the land”, but the Association of School and College Leaders has warned the Baker clause is “only one of a large number requirements that schools have to juggle”.

The Baker clause, introduced in January 2018, stipulates schools must ensure a range of FE providers have access to pupils from year 8 to year 13 to provide information on technical education and apprenticeships. 

Skills minister Anne Milton warned in August the government would directly intervene in schools which failed to comply, but the IPPR said no intervention has taken place and providers are concerned about the “lack of any real consequences”.

The think tank randomly selected 10 schools within each region of England for its study. The other schools were from the constituencies of education secretary Damian Hinds and skills minister Anne Milton – where just three of 11 were found to be compliant.

The report said there is a focus on “pupil retention, rather than supporting students and their families to understand the options available” because schools are largely funded on a per-pupil basis.

It recommends Ofsted assesses compliance with the Baker clause as part of a wider judgement on a school’s careers guidance, including speaking to local providers to understand how effectively the school works with them.

Careers guidance would be ranked between ‘inadequate’ and ‘outstanding’, and any school which receives the lowest grade or does not comply with the Baker clause should be prevented from receiving the top grade in the ‘personal development, behaviour and welfare’ section of the Ofsted report.

But Geoff Barton, general secretary of ASCL, said another measure for Ofsted inspections is “the last thing that schools need”.

“We need to work together across the sector and with government over this issue, rather than attempting to produce results by coercion.”

A spokesperson for Ofsted said it already assessed careers guidance and the effectiveness of 16-to-19 study programmes.

But Lord Baker backed IPPR’s calls, adding: “The Baker clause was a major step to improve career guidance and by ignoring it schools are denying the right of their students to know more about technical education. This is totally unacceptable.”

Catherine Sezen, senior policy manager at the Association of Colleges, pointed out that allowing FE providers to speak to all students “doesn’t have any cost implications for schools” and will “help them to achieve the Gatsby benchmarks”.

Mark Dawe, chief executive of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers, said gender stereotyping and stopping providers talking to pupils of all abilities was a “major concern”.

Robert Halfon, chair of the education select committee said it’s time for the government and Ofsted to “get tough and penalise schools which evade their duties under the Baker clause”.

A spokesperson for the Department for Education said schools who are not supplying pupils with the necessary information will be asked for evidence of compliance with the Baker clause.

He added the DfE will “take appropriate action” against schools who do not supply this evidence.

The IPPR report also recommends the creation of a single online UCAS-inspired resource for more information on local FE pathways, as well as more responsibility on local authorities to engage parents with careers advice, help Ofsted tackle non-compliance and support partnership working across schools and education providers.

 

Skills minister responds to concern apprenticeship budget will be overspent

The apprenticeship budget will be “alright” for the rest of the year, the skills minister has said.

Anne Milton (pictured above) was speaking exclusively to FE Week following a parliamentary debate on apprenticeships and skills this afternoon.

She was asked if she had any concerns about the size of the apprenticeships budget, following reports late last year that it was heading for a £500 million overspend in 2018/19.

“I always want more money – the more we’ve got, the more we can do with apprenticeships,” she said in response.

But she had no fears about the budget running out – either right now or for the rest of the year.

“I think we’re alright until July,” she said.

Ms Milton’s remarks echo those of Keith Smith, the director of apprenticeships at the Education and Skills Funding Agency.

He told FE Week in December that he was “not expecting any pressure” on the £2 billion budget this year, despite the Institute for Apprenticeships warning of a potential overspend.

The figures, included in a presentation by the institute’s chief operating officer in November, showed the apprenticeships budget could be overspent by £500 million in 2018/19, rising to a £1.5 billion overspend in 2021/22.

They were exclusively reported by FE Week earlier in the month and prompted demands for an open debate on how the levy operates, and for the IfA to share the full presentation.

Mr Smith suggested the presentation was “trying to set out one scenario or a potential, particular illustration of what the budget might do and might happen” depending on take-up.

Shadow skills minister Gordon Marsden wrote to Sir Gerry Berragan, boss of the IfA, asking for the presentation to be made public, after the institute refused to share it. 

He was told in late December that the institute was “considering” releasing it.

And Robert Halfon, chair of the influential education select committee, urged the government to be “open and transparent” about any potential overspend.

He made the remarks after the education secretary Damian Hinds dodged a question about it in parliament in December.

For more on today’s Westminster Hall debate and the interview with Anne Milton, see this week’s edition of FE Week.

 

First ever loans-only provider to get Ofsted ‘outstanding’

A loans-only provider has been rated ‘outstanding’ – the first such provider to receive the highest possible rating from Ofsted.

Civil Ceremonies Limited, which offers level three courses in funeral, naming and couples’ celebrancy entirely funded by advanced learner loans, was rated grade one across the board in a report published this morning.

It follows an investigation by FE Week in November which found that 80 per cent of the loans-only providers inspected by Ofsted to date were less than ‘good’, while none had been rated ‘outstanding’ at the time.

Today’s report said that leaders and managers at Kettering-based Civil Ceremonies Ltd were “highly successful in implementing their vision and mission for the business”.

The provider was founded in 2002 and began directly delivering loans-funded provision in 2016 after a period subcontracting for a local college. According to Education and Skills Funding Agency figures it has a 2018/19 allocation of £331,444.

In addition to its loans-funded provision, delivered through a combination of distance learning and residential courses, Civil Ceremonies has also developed its own qualifications “which allow their courses to be delivered to a wider audience by other providers to meet local and national need”, the report said.

Its training programmes are “very well designed and demanding” and “provide learners with excellent training to become celebrants”, while training staff have “very good sector knowledge and experience” and “exceptionally high expectations of their learners”.

Current learners, of whom there were 75 at the time of inspection, “are all on track to achieve and make excellent progress”, and a “high proportion” go on to “become self-employed and practise as celebrants”.

Anne Barber, Civil Ceremonies Limited’s managing director, said she was “thrilled” by today’s report.

“We may only be a small team but this ‘outstanding’ mark demonstrates how we can compete at the highest level on the quality of our training,” she said.

Loans-only providers only came into scope for inspection by Ofsted from September 2016 – even though some providers had been delivering since late 2013.

ESFA figures show there are 49 providers whose only form of adult skills funding is loans allocations, worth a combined total of almost £18 million, in 2018/19.

FE Week’s investigation at the end of November found just 20 of these loans-only providers had been inspected, eight of which had received an ‘inadequate’ grade and a further eight were rated ‘requires improvement’.

But despite these statistics, the education watchdog would not say whether it was planning to up its monitoring of this kind of provider, prompting demands for urgent action.

Advanced learner loans, originally known as 24+ loans, were introduced in 2013/14 for learners studying courses at levels three or four and aged 24 and older.

Eligibility was expanded in 2016/17 to include 19- to 23-year-olds and courses at levels five and six.

Following a series of scandals in 2017, reported by FE Week, involving loans-funded providers that went bust leaving learners in the lurch, the ESFA introduced tighter controls on providers wanting to access loans funding.

 

Government ‘pushed’ to reveal more about national retraining scheme

The government is being “pushed” by its partners on the national retraining scheme to share more information about the new programme – which could cost “billions” to run, the education select committee heard this morning.

The scheme was first promised 18 months ago, but the government has yet to say how it will operate, who will be eligible and how much it will cost.

Iain Murray, senior policy offer at the Trades Union Congress, told MPs this morning that they and fellow partner the CBI were “aware that the government has not made detailed announcements”.

“There has been lots of detailed discussions, detailed papers around eligibility, sectors, how the service will operate, around access to online learning, subsidised courses,” he said.

“We have been pushing the government that they should be articulating a bit more to the wider public about where we’re at,” he said.

So far £100 million has been committed to the scheme, but Mr Murray said the cash was “largely to test out and to build the actual service” – and that the actual cost for delivering it could be significantly higher.

“I can’t put an actual figure on it, but you’re talking billions. It’s major,” he said.

The cost would depend on “how tightly it’s targeted and a lot of that will depend on eligibility”.

“If it’s going to be a large programme that a large number of adults will be able to access that’s going to be a different kind of programme to one that’s focused on certain adults depending on their education qualifications and the sectors they’re employed in,” he said.

Matthew Fell, chief UK policy director at the CBI, said the next 12 to 18 months would be a “discovery piece” to find out more about how the scheme will run in practice – including where it can access “good parts of existing skills provision” and “what are the parts that don’t currently exist right now”.

Among the issues “on my mind” was how to “inject some pace into this”, he said.

“We’re all acutely aware that this change is happening right now so how do we get this scheme and system up and running as quickly as possible to ease that disruption,” Mr Fell said.

A spokesperson for the Department for Education said that more details about the scheme would be available “in due course”.

Mark Dawe, chief executive of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers, said the scheme was “welcome” but urged the government to avoid “complex procurement, narrow targeting, obsessive monitoring and programme duplication”.

“What is most important is that it gets going and training happens now – no more talking, more action instead. The TUC are right about funding if it’s to make a real impact; we may well need billions.”

The introduction of a national retraining scheme, to help adult learners to upskill and retrain, was a Conservative party manifesto commitment in June 2017, and was later reiterated in the Industrial Strategy published in November of the same year.

The scheme “will give individuals – particularly those hardest to reach – the skills they need to thrive and support employers to adapt as the economy changes”, the strategy promised.

A National Retraining Partnership, which included the chancellor Philip Hammond, the education secretary Damian Hinds as well as representatives from the TUC and the CBI, met for the first time in March last year to begin developing the scheme.

In October Mr Hammond announced in his Budget speech that £100 million had so far been committed to the programme – which included £64 million from the previous year’s budget to get the ball rolling with pilots in digital and construction skills.

College gets its ‘good’ Ofsted rating back a year after mega-merger

A college that saw its Ofsted grade slip two years ago while it battled with deteriorating finances has got its ‘good’ rating back following a mega-merger.

Bournville College was warned by former FE Commissioner David Collins of its “hand-to-mouth” financial situation in 2014 and was downgraded by the inspectorate to ‘requires improvement’ overall and ‘inadequate’ for apprenticeships in 2016.

The former 8,000-learner college then received £10.5 million in exceptional financial support from the Department for Education in 2017/18, all of which was waived.

It shows very clearly that the college is totally focused on our students

But it appears the college’s troubles have started to turn following its merger with grade two South and City College Birmingham in August 2017, at which point their Ofsted records were wiped.

The new college taught more than 22,000 students over the previous full contract year and achieved ‘good’ ratings across the board.

Principal Mike Hopkins said he was especially “delighted” with the inspection outcome as it came “so soon after the merger with Bournville College”.

“[It] shows very clearly that the college is totally focused on our students,” he added.

“It also shows what incredible, dedicated and capable staff we have.”

Under Ofsted policy newly merged colleges have their inspection records reset and can be given up to three years before they’re inspected. South and City College Birmingham told FE Week it did not request its inspection despite it coming within just 15 months of its merger.

The new college has an estimated annual income of around £75 million and currently teaches around 5,000 learners who are aged 16 to 18.

Governors and senior leaders at the college, which now teaches 14- to 16-year-olds as well as apprentices and adult learners, were praised for managing “recent strategic changes well”.

“The recent college merger and the separate development of courses for full-time pupils aged 14 to 16, have led to improved outcomes for students, pupils and apprentices,” Ofsted said.

“The principal and senior leaders create a harmonious and inspiring environment, in a large and complex college, which enables staff to raise aspirations successfully.”

Inspectors found that achievement rates in vocational qualifications have “improved and are high”.

“Most students and apprentices who leave the college at the end of their course continue to higher education, employment, promotion or training,” they said.

We are now beginning our journey from ‘good’ to ‘outstanding’

Teachers are “successful in supporting students with significant personal difficulties and low skill levels to improve their confidence, language skills and readiness for work”.

To improve to ‘outstanding’, Ofsted said the college’s teachers and assessors, particularly in A-level provision and English and maths GCSE courses, need to “improve the quality of teaching learning and assessment”.

Leaders and managers also need to “improve pupils’, students’ and apprentices’ attendance” on courses where rates are currently “too low”.

South and City College Birmingham was first formed in 2012 following an initial merger between South Birmingham College and City College Birmingham.

Its mega-merger with Bournville College was originally planned for August 2016 but was delayed for a year.

Mr Hopkins said today: “Anyone considering where to study only has to read the Ofsted report to see that no matter who you are, this is the college where you will be supported, be safe and above all else will achieve your qualifications.

“We are now beginning our journey from ‘good’ to ‘outstanding’.”

Ofsted watch: An ‘outstanding’ start to the new year

An independent provider has been rated ‘outstanding’ in its first ever inspection report, while all the other full reports published over the festive period returned a ‘good’ rating.

A bumper crop of early monitoring visit reports have also been published – one that resulted in a ‘significant progress’ verdict in all areas, while at the opposite end of the spectrum three providers were found to be making ‘insufficient progress’ in at least one area.

BRS Education Limited was rated grade one overall and in four out of six headlines fields in a report published December 31 and based on an inspection in late November.

Leaders at the provider, which offers residential short courses for 16 to 19 learners, traineeships and apprenticeships in equestrian subjects, were praised for their “highly effective partnerships” with the horseracing industry which ensured that “most learners and apprentices” secured successful careers following their courses.

“Learners, trainees and apprentices are motivated and inspired by highly experienced and qualified staff who are credible experts from within the industry,” the report said.

“Excellent theory teaching, linked expertly to practical activities” ensured that learners and apprentices “quickly acquire extremely high levels of practical skills”, inspectors noted.

Two other independent providers received grade two ratings following their first inspections, in reports published during this period.

Specialist Trade Courses Ltd’s report was published on December 20, and based on an inspection in mid-November, while Umbrella Training and Employment Solutions Limited’s report was published on January 3 and was based on an inspection in late November.

Leaders and managers at Specialist Trade Courses, which offers health and social care apprenticeships and loans-funded courses in beauty therapy and personal training, have “successfully created a culture in which they and the staff have high aspirations for their learners”, the report said.

Apprentices at Umbrella Training “benefit from a good standard of teaching, training and learning from experienced learning development managers, who have extensive experience in the hospitality industries” and are “highly motivated”, according to inspectors.

Two providers saw their grades go up from ‘requires improvement’ to ‘good’ over this period: adult and community learning provider Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council, and independent specialist college Henshaws College.

Leaders at both Bolton council and Bolton College – which delivers all the provision on behalf of the council – were praised for having “highly effective action to improve the provision”, in a report published December 21 and based on an inspection in mid-November.

“Council and college leaders design courses successfully to meet the needs of people living in the borough of Bolton, including the most disadvantaged residents,” the report said, while “tutors plan activities that engage and enthuse learners”.

All staff at Henshaws College “work together to instil a culture of inclusiveness”, according to its report published December 21 and based on an inspection in mid-November.

Leaders at the college, which offers education and training for learners with high needs, “have developed a good range of learning programmes that meet students’ needs and aspirations well”, inspectors found.

Heading in the opposite direction, two providers slipped from grade one to grade two in this period: The Working Men’s College and Cirencester College.

Leaders at The Working Men’s College “made good use of the funding available for adult learning” to “target effectively those learners with limited or no formal learning”, according to the report published December 21 and based on an inspection in mid-November.

But they “do not have sufficiently detailed information on learners’ next steps on completing their programmes, either within the college or elsewhere, or on how their current learning influences those choices,” inspectors found.

Governors, leaders and managers at Cirencester College, a sixth form college, “ensure that the curriculum meets students’ individual needs and prepares them well for their next steps”, the report, published 19 December and based on an inspection in late November, said.

However, “too few” learners on some courses “complete their programmes successfully”, while the numbers of learners planning to go into employment or an apprenticeships that had a work placement with an external employer was similarly low.

A further two providers held onto their ‘good’ ratings following full inspections in this period: 16 to 19 academy St Vincent College, and independent specialist provider Farleigh Further Education College – Frome.

Leaders and managers at St Vincent College, which was previously rated ‘good’ as a sixth form college before it converted to become an academy “have created an ambitious culture for their staff, students and local community”, according to its report published December 21 and based on an inspection in late November.

Students at Farleigh “receive excellent, sensitive support from managers, tutors and support staff in classes, on work experience and in their places of residence”, according to its report, also published December 21 and based on an inspection in late November.

Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust was found to be making ‘significant progress’ in all three themes under review, in an apprenticeship early monitoring visit report published December 27 based on a visit in late November.

Leaders and managers were praised for their “well planned” strategy, which was “highly successful” at filling skills gaps and had enabled apprentices to progress to higher-level roles.

Three providers were found to be making ‘insufficient progress’ in at least one area: Vortex Training Solutions, Ultima Skills Limited and Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust.

The verdicts mean all three can expect to be barred from recruiting new apprentices, according to Education and Skills Funding Agency rules.

A further eight early monitoring visit reports have been published in this period, with all achieving ‘reasonable progress’ verdicts. Three other providers currently rated ‘requires improvement’ were also subject to monitoring visits.

GFE Colleges Inspected Published Grade Previous grade
Leeds College of Building 21/11/2018 19/12/2018 M 3
The Working Men’s College 13/11/2018 21/12/2018 2 1

 

Sixth Form Colleges (inc 16-19 academies) Inspected Published Grade Previous grade
Cirencester College 20/11/2018 19/12/2018 2 1
St Vincent College 21/11/2018 21/12/2018 2 2

 

Independent Learning Providers Inspected Published Grade Previous grade
JFC Training College Ltd 14/11/2018 19/12/2018 M 3
Specialist Trade Courses Ltd 13/11/2018 20/12/2018 2 –
CSR Scientific Training Limited  28/11/2018 19/12/2018 M M
Utility and Construction Training Limited 21/11/2018 19/12/2018 M M
C&J Clark International Limited 14/11/2018 17/12/2018 M M
Vista Training Solutions Limited 21/11/2018 17/12/2018 M M
Workforce Training and Development 14/11/2018 18/12/2018 M M
British Printing Industries Federation Ltd 20/11/2018 02/01/2019 M 3
BRS Education Limited 20/11/2018 31/12/2018 1 –
Umbrella Training and Employment Solutions Limited 26/11/2018 03/01/2019 2 –
Fleetmaster Training Limited 14/11/2018 24/12/2018 M M
Vortex Training Solutions Ltd 27/11/2018 21/12/2018 M M
Ultima Skills Ltd 28/11/2018 27/12/2018 M M

 

Adult and Community Learning Inspected Published Grade Previous grade
Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council 13/11/2018 21/12/2018 2 3

 

Employer providers Inspected Published Grade Previous grade
South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 19/11/2018 18/12/2018 M M
The Headmasters Partnership Limited 21/11/2018 24/12/2018 M 3
The Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust 21/11/2018 27/12/2018 M M
Lincolnshire Community Health Services NHS Trust 21/11/2018 04/01/2019 M M
Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust 27/11/2018 04/01/2019 M M

 

Other (including UTCs) Inspected Published Grade Previous grade
Henshaws College 21/11/2018 21/12/2018 2 3
Farleigh Further Education College – Frome 27/11/2018 21/12/2018 2 2

Death announced of former principal Garry Phillips

Former City College Plymouth principal Garry Phillips has passed away.

His death over the Christmas period was confirmed by the college today.

“It is with great sadness that we heard that Garry Phillips has tragically and unexpectedly passed away. Garry’s family have asked that their grief and privacy is respected at this time.

“The funeral will be on Friday, 11 January, and Penny Wycherley, the interim principal and a former colleague of Garry’s will represent the college.”

The cause of his death has not yet been announced but there are not thought to be any suspicious circumstances.

Mr Phillips’ career in the FE sector spanned more than 20 years, and included top jobs in three colleges.

He became principal and chief executive of New College Telford in 2012, before moving on to Ealing, Hammersmith and West London College in July 2014.

The college dropped its Ofsted grade a year later, from three to four, but just 18 months later it had turned around and was rated ‘good’.

In March 2018 Mr Phillips announced he was moving on to City College Plymouth, where he took up the leadership position in July.

However, the publication in November of an FE commissioner report that was highly critical of Mr Phillips’ leadership at his former college prompted controversy and led to his resignation later that month.

David Hughes, chief executive of the Association of Colleges, said: “Garry’s death is a great shock and very sad indeed. I last spoke to him in December about his future plans and my thoughts are now with his family.

“He worked hard as the principal at New College Telford and Ealing Hammersmith and West London and then briefly at City College Plymouth.

“He started his career as an apprentice and took on a series of challenges in colleges in the North West and Midlands. He was always keen to make a difference and to improve the world.”

 

 

DfE ends subsidies for Chartered Institution for FE

The Department for Education will no longer financially support the Chartered Institution for FE – leaving its future in doubt.

The institution, which was conceived in 2012 and has so far received £1.5 million in subsidies, will receive one final payment at the end of this month – after which it will be on its own.

“It has always been the intention that the CIFE should be financially independent, and not reliant on government funding,” a spokesperson for the DfE told FE Week.

The institution’s work “will no longer be financially supported” by the department from January 2019, she said, with the last payment “in respect of CIFE’s previous liabilities” to be made at the end of the month.

The institution currently has 16 members – far fewer than the 80 its boss, Dan Wright (pictured above), has previously said it would need to be “completely free” of government subsidy.

FE Week has attempted to contact the CIFE to ask how it will sustain itself without any further DfE cash, but has been unable to speak to anyone.

However, a statement released just before Christmas said that an “increase in membership and remodelling of our infrastructure enables the institution to stand free of government funding”.

It said the CIFE recognised “the financial pressure the DfE faces in terms of funding the FE sector” and that it had decided to “stand independently of government”.

“We expect membership to grow as we use our voice independently”, it said.

FE Week reported in September that the institution had received £430,000 from the DfE in 2017-18 under their grant funding agreement.

This was on top of the £1 million it had already received since its conception, as revealed by an FE Week freedom of information request last January.

Mr Wright said in September that discussions with the DfE about additional subsidy for 2018-19 were still ongoing, but that no decisions had been made.

The CIFE, the brainchild of the former skills minister John Hayes, was created to get high-achieving FE providers a royal seal of approval.   

It took three years for it to be finally granted its royal charter, and it began accepting applications in November 2015.

Colleges and training providers must be rated grade one or two by Ofsted to apply, and also meet the institution’s quality standards.

The annual subscription fee for members who have achieved chartered status is £5,000, but for interested parties there is also a £3,000 non-refundable fee to have an application reviewed in the first place.

ESFA quietly launches reapplications to ‘tougher’ apprenticeship provider register

The government has begun inviting providers to reapply to its refreshed apprenticeship provider register – with the first group told it must do so by the end of next month or face being kicked off.

All 2,571 organisations currently on the register will be segmented into groups and told to reapply throughout this year – with those that are not delivering training being invited first – under new “tougher” rules being enforced by the Education and Skills Funding Agency.

An unknown number of providers were informed by the agency on Christmas Eve that they would be included in wave one of the reapplication process, which will take place throughout February.

If you do not reapply to the RoATP in your application period, ESFA will remove you by 31 March 2019

“We would like to invite you to reapply to the RoATP between 1 February and 28 February 2019,” an email to one employer provider, seen by FE Week, said.

“If you do not reapply to the RoATP in your application period, ESFA will remove you from the RoATP by 31 March 2019. You will be able to submit an application at any time in the future.

“If your application is unsuccessful, ESFA will remove you from the RoATP and you will be unable to take on any new apprentices.”

FE Week asked the ESFA how many and what types of training providers were being included in wave one of the reapplication process, but it would not say.

A spokesperson would only say: “All organisations currently on the register of apprenticeship training providers will need to reapply. We will be inviting organisations to reapply in phases, during 2019.”

The refreshed register of apprenticeship training providers finally opened on December 12, more than a year after the last window closed.

The ESFA’s email reiterated key changes to RoATP, including that the register will now stay open indefinitely, and that all organisations wanting to receive funding for apprenticeship training will need to go through the new application process and answer a series of new questions.

Furthermore, any providers without any delivery within a 12-month period will now face being removed from the register.

The ESFA’s director of apprenticeships, Keith Smith, told the Association of Employment and Learning Providers conference in October that the agency wants to focus the reapplication process on “those providers that are potentially not delivering, and on those that we think will struggle to pass our new requirements”.

Last month, FE Week analysis revealed that almost a third of providers on the government’s register did not deliver any apprenticeships in 2017/18.

Explaining why the ESFA is opening the register to more providers before kicking those that are dormant off, Mr Smith told FE Week the agency is “trying to do that in a sensible way so that we don’t provide unnecessary disruption into the system”.

READ MORE: Why the ESFA wants more apprenticeship providers – despite no starts at over 500 last year

“One thing that we’ve been mindful about is that we have got employers in the system both levy-paying and non-levy paying that are coming into the apprenticeships system for the first time,” he said – indicating that some of the inactive providers may start to deliver in the future, in response to demand from these new employers.

Other changes to the register include greater scrutiny of providers, who will have to have traded for at least 12 months and provide a full set of accounts.

Subcontractors delivering less than £100,000 of provision a year will now have to be on the register, whereas previously they did not need to be.

The ESFA’s email about reapplications said the changes to RoATP “demonstrate our continued commitment to improving the quality of apprenticeship training and ensure only providers who are appropriately skilled, ready to deliver and financially stable, can access apprenticeship funding”.

All providers can make two applications to RoATP within a 12 month period.

The ESFA’s email said that if applications are unsuccessful or providers believe the ESFA made an error in the assessment, then organisations have the right to appeal.

“You must submit your appeal within 10 working days of receiving your application result and feedback on your application,” it added.